Property line measuring

Does anyone know how to get a rough property measurement? I live on the outskirts of a small town and I own the entire block. Apparently, since this block was never developed, it has no property markers. I was able to get the exact measurements from the Recorder of Deeds. However, I am not sure where to begin the measurement. I do not need an exact measurement and the surveyor I contacted has a $500.00 minimum charge. At this time, I am not planning to place anything near the property line. I just wish to solve a curiosity. I do have measuring wheel and the ground here is flat.

My property has a county hwy (small two lane rural road) to the north and a residential street to the west. Where should I begin my measurement? I understand I need to begin from the center of the roads, but how far in do I measure before my actual property begins? What are the most common offets, 50 ft? 66?

Re: Property line measuring

Look for your legal description. In many cases, if there were no USGS survey monuments.. or even steel rods with or without cap placed.. you should be able to get a measurement reference. For instance.. there may be a reference from another property or landmark. ( 300' from NE corner of xxx parcel.. , and 200' from centerline of xx streetetc... )

See if your property appraiser has online plat maps.. check the scale.. measure your lot line to another lot line / landmark.. then check to see if there is a marker present there.. then you have soemthing to go off of. You may have to do this on all corners.. or at least 3 of them anyway.. etc. ( if you can find reference markers you can triangulate a pretty close point/corner... Once you have enough points.. you can extrapolate lines .. etc.)

I fthe palt is not online.. you may have to do some foot work to find them. Also helpfull would be any old surveys that may exist from previous use of the property. many times banks or lending institutions will require a survey before financing a property.. so check with your bank. etc.

By the way.. 500$ is a pretty standard 'starting' fee to kick the corners..

Re: Property line measuring

How rough?

Google Earth is a wonderful new resource. It shows aerial photos down to a scale where you can use its measuring tool to draw a line from the front to back of your house, then show the length of that line in feet. Compared to the house's real dimensions, Google will be accurate within 10-20 ft. Close enough?

I would start with the research others have mentioned. Look at the county assessor's plat maps, and your title insurance which should describe road easements infringing on any side. Contact local surveyors, they may describe nearby monuments you can start from.

If no better information is available, use the center of the existing roads as estimated boundaries. (on the ground, find the center by measuring in from each side).

Using Google Earth, you should be able to start from the known front corner (road intersection), and overlay lines of the proper length on the picture to mark the other three corners. Then use its measuring tool again to reference those corners as specific distances from physical objects you can see on the ground - a tree, ravine, etc.

I would then go out with a screen print from Google and search those indicated corners with a metal detector to find survey monuments, if they exist. Probably a piece of rebar or pipe, driven just below the surface.

I've been watching a professional survey of my neighbor's parcel. My technique described above was accurate within a few feet of the true line established by the real surveyor. Close enough for mere curiosity.

But as schmism mentioned - if you need precision, call a professional.

Re: Property line measuring

Survey markers are one of those things I never saw until I started looking for them. Now I seem to spot them all over the place.

You will need to find at least one for reference, then it's pretty easy to work from there. The trick will be to find that one.

If you have to start in the middle of the road, look real close for a nail, or a piece of rebar that has been pounded into the road, or some sort of marker. The is alwasy something there and sometimes you'll see some a circle of orange paint around it. It might be very faint, but it's usualy there.

Look real close at all your corners for any sign of surveyors tape. Look in the trees, on the branches and on the ground. If there's allot of leaves, bring a rake and slowly move them around.

Surveyors tape dries up and gets hard after awhile, but it will last and stay in place for decades!!!!

Another good source are your neighbors. Even though they are across the road, they might know where there markers are and give you an idea of what they look like, where to look and maybe a reference point to find your own corners.

Roads vary. Here a county road is 60 feet wide. People own to the middle of that road, but the county easment runs the length of their land. There is a nail in the center of the road, so you measure 30 feet over to know where your fenceline can go.

State roads are much, much larger. The highway in front of my place has 60 feet of land from the end of the pavement to my propertyline. It all varies depending on who owns the road.

Re: Property line measuring

The roads are not always in the center of their easements. Here the easement for the town road is 66', 33' on my side, 33' on the property to the north. The center line is also a section line. However from the section line to the edge of the pavement on my side is only 3' so don't assume the road is properly located.

Re: Property line measuring

I can speak only for Texas but our local Appraissal District (Tax Office - sort of) has composite Maps/Surveys. You can go look at your propery in relation to everything that surrounds you (including power pole right of ways, road right of ways, local features (dams in my case), etc. Once you have an idea of hard points to look for, a mag compass and a couple of long tape measures will get you very close. A cheap metal detector ($25 at HF) helps immensly in finding 'lost' survey markers. I've found some of my iron markers 6" below grade - still nicely taped in orange and pink. (It's a good feeling to measure to a point and say the marker must be here and then find it, buried.)

The other source is the county engineering office - roads division. I called them the other day on a boundry issue and the gentleman on the phone pulled up a map of my property and started reading off the R.O.W. dimensions and giving me a list of where to look for their markers. With that much info I could have saved on a survey - not really.

Which brings me to my final point. If you bought your land with title insurance, dig through your closing package carefully. You usually can't get title insurance without some kind of recent survey or boundary verification to make sure there are no encroachments.

Then you touch four corners either clockwise or counter-clock wise directions only. As you bring the corners together you see the meters and acres!

To check another area of same location simply click "Clear All Points" and then "Start A New Area". If you make a mistake you can "Delete Last Point" or "Start a New Area". Zoom in for close shots and zoom out if you want to view a bigger area. It will measure at any distance.